Viggo Mortensen to Reunite With Green Book Director for Vietnam War Film

Following their collaboration on the Academy Award winning Green Book, actor Viggo Mortensen and director Peter Farrelly are set to work together once again. Variety reports that the pair are set to collaborate on an untitled film which is based on “The Greatest Beer Run Ever: A True Story of Friendship Stronger Than War,” the outlet reports that Mortensen will have a supporting part rather than being the star. Farrelly co-wrote the screenplay for the adaptation with Brian Currie (Green Book) and Pete Jones (Hall Pass). The film marks Farrelly’s first movie as a director since the Oscar winning film from 2018.

Though known primarily for sleezy comedies like Dumb and Dumber, There’s Something About Mary, Me, Myself & Irene, and Movie 43, Farrelly moved to the more dramatic with Green Book. The biographical film starred Mahershala Ali as pianist Don Shirley with Mortensen playing Italian American bouncer Frank “Tony Lip” Vallelonga, his driver and bodyguard. A decent critical hit, the film would go on to gross over $327 million worldwide and secure the Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Ali), and Best Picture.

Set to be published later this year, “The Greatest Beer Run Ever” is officially described as follows: “One night in 1967, twenty-six-year-old John Donohue—known as Chick—was out with friends, drinking in a New York City bar. The friends gathered there had lost loved ones in Vietnam. Now, they watched as anti-war protesters turned on the troops themselves. One neighborhood patriot came up with an inspired—some would call it insane—idea. Someone should sneak into Vietnam, track down their buddies there, give them messages of support from back home, and share a few laughs over a can of beer.”

“It would be the Greatest Beer Run Ever. But who’d be crazy enough to do it? One man was up for the challenge—a U. S. Marine Corps veteran turned merchant mariner who wasn’t about to desert his buddies on the front lines when they needed him. Chick volunteered.”

“A day later, he was on a cargo ship headed to Vietnam, armed with Irish luck and a backpack full of alcohol. Landing in Qui Nho’n, Chick set off on an adventure that would change his life forever—an odyssey that took him through a series of hilarious escapades and harrowing close calls, including the Tet Offensive. But none of that mattered if he could bring some cheer to his pals and show them how much the folks back home appreciated them.”

(Cover photo by Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images)